"You can't ride in that truck without thinking about it," says
one of the principals in Mikael Salomon's suspense thriller,
"Hard Rain." The thinking is about money; the truck is
armored; the people who ride in that armored truck, carrying
three million dollars in cash have three million reasons to
think about subjects other than women, food, and sports.
Consider how many relatively low-paid security guards, bank
tellers, postal employees, agents of the Mint, jewelry-store
staff and others handle incredible sums of money and
property. In a single, two-hour ride in an armored truck, the
driver and guards are transporting more money than they will
earn in a lifetime. A lifetime! The wonder of it all is that the
overwhelming majority of shipments get through without
incident.

But incidents occur aplenty in Salmon's high-concept
adventure story based on Graham Yost's screenplay (which
has a surprisingly sentimental ending considering that
Christopher Young's almost deafening score shakes the
rafters of the movie house). Featuring one enticing twist that
occurs two-thirds of the way through the 95-minute caper,
"Hard Rain" seems unable to make up its mind whether to be
a disaster movie or a police drama, so Salomon throws both
genres into the picture, even affording us the beginnings of a
romance for our admission price. Not much is believable: not
the special effects, not the characters. But the action, which
is virtually nonstop, overwhelms our rational thought, allowing
us to enjoy the show for what it is and to relish yet another
fine performance by Randy Quaid--who, of course, gets all the
good lines. "Hard Rain" trusts Morgan Freeman, who, despite
his role as a robber seems the most mature person in the
film, to put out the quality acting; Christian Slater to throb the
hearts of the 20-something women in the audience; and
Minnie Driver to turn on her cynical charm as the unlikely
romantic interest.

Photographed a year or so ago with the title "The Flood,"
the film's name was changed to underscore the suspense
species, which deals with a $3 million heist of an armored
truck taking place with the help of a blinding rainstorm. With
the breaking of an old dam which harnessed the water of the
Midwestern town of Huntingburg, Indiana, the movie at one
point seems like a relatively inexpensive remake of
"Waterworld" complete with speedboat chases by pirates who,
with one exception, look as though they couldn't navigate their
way out of a bathtub. Jim (Morgan Freeman), a soft-spoken,
mature fellow who probably never stayed with one employer
enough time to build up a pension, dreams of a single job
which could net him enough money to last him throughout
retirement. Rounding up a small team of losers to assist him
in the heist, Jim attacks an armored truck, now stalled in deep
water unable to move. His associates in crime prove more a
hindrance than anything more, as they include one Bible-
quoting man who manages to balance a toothpick between
his front teeth while he is chasing down the truck's driver and
one idiot who talks openly of the planned robbery while
seated in a bar. The scoundrels did not count on an
obsessively honest security guard, Tom (Christian Slater),
who refuses to leave the money behind and swim for his life.
Having hid the money in the local cemetery, Tom is mistaken
by the sheriff (Randy Quaid) for a looter, is incarcerated, and
almost at the point of drowning when he is saved by Karen
(Minnie Driver)--paving the way for a flirtation of sorts. Tom
and Karen join forces in the adventure of their lives, even
running into the town's stereotypical old people, Henry
Richard Dysart) and Doreen (Betty White), who likewise
mistake them for looters--which allows the two seniors to act
like Beverly Hillbillies.

Except for a twist which involves a reversal of alliances,
"Hard Rain" is a by-the-numbers caper story with mostly
cardboard characters and just a few bon mots. The latter
includes a statement by the local science teacher who, having
been fired from the town's high school, has joined the robbers
with his specialty of assembling explosives. Asked whether
this is the sort of thing he taught his classes, he retorts, "You
haven't been to a high school lately...they taught ME how to
do this."

A fairly formulaic script is saved by the thoughtful
performance of the always reliable Morgan Freeman--who at
least is not wasted in his role as he was in "Amistad"--and a
genuinely comic turn by the trustworthy Randy Quaid. You sit
on the edge of your seat wondering whether Quaid, riding the
waves caused in part by the bursting of the levee, will get to
say, "Where can I get some dam bait for my dam fishing rod?